The Local Chapters of the University of Teachers Association (UTAG) of College of Technology, Kumasi (COLTEK) and College of Agriculture Education (CAGRIC), offshoots of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), have appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to appoint one of their own as Vice Chancellor of COLTEK and CAGRIC, which would soon morph into the Akenteng Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Development (AA-USTED)
According to COLTEK and CAGRIC, appointing a Vice Chancellor from the tried and tested existing academic and leadership structures of the two colleges would consolidate the significant gains made in Tertiary and Vocational Education Training (TVET) over the years, and ensure that there is absolute peace and harmony on all the campuses of the new university.
They also opined that one of the important considerations for governments all over the world to decide to grant a campus of a university autonomy status is that the campus already must have very good leadership, administrative, and governance structures to expand the university in terms of infrastructural programmes.
The disclosures from COLTEK and CAGRIC follows media reports that seek to create an erroneous impression that there is an ongoing internecine wrangling as to who leads the AA-UPSTED.
In fact, the publications claim a power struggle between COLTEK and CAGRIC in matters relating to the appointment of a Vice Chancellor to head the about-to-be-established university.
The said publications maliciously, and without evidence, indicated that there are fractions and conflicts between COLTEK and CAGRIC, the two major campuses of UEW that have been converted into a fully-fledged autonomous University by President Akufo-Addo to provide higher education in TVET.
The idea of the publications is that President Akufo-Addo should look elsewhere for a neutral person to appoint as Vice Chancellor for A.A-USTED, because of the purported author’s phantom imagination of an existing power struggle and administrative conflict among the renowned professors of the two campuses.
But the UTAG leaders and member of COLTEK and CAGRIC have rejected these media reports as unfounded.
Reacting to the these publications at a news conference held at COLTEK, and addressed by Dr. Stephen Baffour Adjei, local Chairman of COLTEK UTAG, he described the development as an erroneous impression.
He asked, why would anybody suggest that the President should look elsewhere for a Vice Chancellor, when the two campuses already have full professors who have several years of experience in university governance and administration, good interpersonal skills, and considerable international exposure to run our new university?
He indicated that the leadership of UTAG-COLTEK and UTAG-CAGRIC and the management of the two campuses, led by Professor Fredrick Kwaku Sarfo and Professor James Kagya-Agyemang, Principals of COLTEK and CAGRIC, respectively, as well as all the other professors, senior lecturers, lecturers, staff and students of the two campuses have enjoyed a very cordial and collegial relationship spanning decades, and continue to do so on an even higher level under the able leadership of above-mentioned academicians.
As a result of the aforementioned track records, they have expressed optimism that the government was very much aware of the enviable track records of COLTEK and CAGRIC, and would never do anything that will be detrimental to the peaceful and progressive record of COLTEK and CAGRIC.
Setting the records straight, Dr Baffour Adjei stated that the publications making rounds are deliberate, ill-intentioned, and mischievously motivated to deceive President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Minister of Education, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, and the general public in matters relating to COLTEK and CAGRIC.
He stressed: “The claims in the publications are unscientific, unacademic, and [a] complete figment of the faceless author’s own imagination.”
Debunking the said publications to the media, the COLTEK UTAG local Chairman pointed out there was not the slightest evidence of factionalism, power struggle, or administrative conflict whatsoever, by any stretch of imagination, among the hardworking professors and lecturers of COLTEK and CAGRIC.
Baffour Adjei underscored that the management of COLTEK and CAGRIC, and the leadership of UTAG-COLTEK and UTAG-CAGRIC, have tirelessly and closely worked together to provide the needed support to the government of Ghana and all stakeholders in fine-tuning the USTED draft bill that was finally passed into law on Monday, 10th August, 2020, by Parliament.
In a news conference attended by executives UTAG and its members, Stephen Baffour Adjei noted that the decision to appoint a Vice Chancellor for AA-USTED was very uncomplicated and straightforward, and the criteria not far-fetched.
He stated: “The two campuses that have now been converted into a fully-fledged autonomous university have existing and properly functioning leadership and administrative structures that are manned by qualified, competent and experienced full professors, who have toiled and laboured to bring the campuses to a status quo that is now ready and worthy to be granted autonomy.
Dr. Baffour Adjei, subsequently asked during the media interaction: “Why would anybody imagine that appointing a Vice Chancellor from among the full professors of COLTEK and CAGRIC will bring administrative disharmony between Kumasi and Mampong, and thus affect the peaceful environment of the affiliated Colleges of Education, when there is not a single evidence of any disturbance whatsoever that has affected the peaceful and serene academic environment of the two campuses.”
The post Appoint one of our own as the Vice Chancellor of AA-USTED appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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